


We'll Miss You

by erintoknow



Series: Aria [26]
Category: Fallen Hero Series - Malin Rydén, Fallen Hero: Rebirth (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, POV Male Character, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 14:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20566229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erintoknow/pseuds/erintoknow
Summary: Everything's in disarray after Heartbreak;Sunstream retired before any of this mess happened, and no one can get in touch with her. Ortega is out on a leave that looks like it might be permanent. It's just Sergeant Steel and Sentinel to hold down the fort at Rangers HQ now.





	We'll Miss You

2012 had come and gone without any world ending apocalypses, and there had been more than a few doomsday cults spinning excuses.

If you ask Steel, they only needed to wait a year.

Sentinel collapses into his usual chair in the conference room. “It feels so quiet now.” He doesn’t cross his legs, doesn’t play with a pencil, just sits there, sprawled in the chair like empty clothes.

Steel presses his lips together in a tight line. “…It is.” He admits. “I keep expecting to see Anathema in the break room.” A hand pulls at the folder of papers in front of him. They should… they should get on with the staff meeting.

“How was Julia?” Sentinel glances in Steel’s direction, following the motion of his fingers to the folder. “We’ve all been hit hard, but she’s been…”

Steel makes a face like he’s just bitten in to something bitter. “We emptied out most of the alcohol. But…”

Sentinel sighs, further deflates. “I can’t blame her. You know–”

“Please don’t–”

“–I swear sometimes I can hear her and Sidestep arguing about something, like they’re just in the next room over.”

Steel closes his eyes. “I know.” The silence draws out between the two of them, and then he exhales, a long, drawn out deflating of lungs. “I can’t leave the radio on, or I trick myself into thinking it’s Sidestep.”

“Have you… heard from Ashfall recently?”

“That was one of the meeting items.” Steel taps the folder in front of him. “Ashfall has informed me they’re pulling their request for Ranger Membership. In light of the recent… incident, he needs to think carefully about his future.”

“Oh.” There’s a weak grin from Sentinel. “Well, if anyone can get him to come around, I’m sure you can.”

The frown on Steel’s face only deepens. “I was hoping you would talk to him actually.”

Sentinel doesn’t meet Steel’s gaze, runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

Steel closes his eyes, leans back in his chair. He has a feeling he knows where this conversation is going.

“I think it’s about time I retire, actually. I’ve been in this game a long time. And I just…” Steel opens his eyes to see Sentinel staring across the table and out the window. “I can’t keep collecting regrets.”

“Are you sure–”

“I hate to leave everyone in a lurch but…” Sentinel makes a strangled noise, a flash of escaped anguish. “I think it’ll be for the best. Just trying to pretend everything is fine… that’ll get someone killed.”

The silence floods back in, the world outside the conference only a faint buzz. Might as well be a different universe, Chen thinks. But nothing stops. No one stops. People don’t stop living their lives. Don’t stop trying to hurt each other. The Rangers can’t stop trying to keep the peace. Even if it means the ‘Rangers’ are just a single man, he can’t stop. Can’t stop trying. Or what was the point of all this?

Chen pushes the folder away. No point now. “We’ll miss you,” he says.


End file.
